Reviews tagging 'Self harm'

Serpent and dove. La strega e il cacciatore by Shelby Mahurin

47 reviews

liesthemoontells's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This book was INCREDIBLY FRUSTRATING.

For the first 2/3, I felt as if I were reading two different books. One was a compelling fantasy world, dominated by witches with a complex magic system and sociopolitical clan structure. The other was a crappy Throne of Glass Chaol/Celaena fanfic if Chaol was built like a literal bear. While the plot geared up in the last third and the two began to mesh together, I still feel extremely resentful for having to read the early stages of the enemies to lovers plot.

Lou is a very charming protagonist. She has an excellent sense of humour, and as a narrator she drops exposition naturally. Her internal conflict is believable, as are the choices she makes even when they go against her ethics and morals.

The early to middle sections from Reid's perspective are odious and exhausting. Maybe it benefits straight female readers with terrible romantic partners to read the POV of a misogynistic, rage-filled asshole who is changed by the diamond level pussy of his lady love, but I struggle to understand why even they would enjoy it. I guess it's a testament to Mahurin that I didn't still absolutely LOATHE him by the end of the book, but I still dislike him as a character and find their romance plot exhausting.

Some of the sillier plot points are resolved by the end, but others, such as

why the caddish heir to the throne is a) suddenly trusted by a witch with the gravest secret of her people and b) chooses to risk life and limb to assist her and her ragtag friends on a suicide mission

remain a mystery.

Unfortunately, the book ends with an EXTREMELY COMPELLING cliffhanger about the second major witch clan that inhabits the Serpent & Dove universe, so shit, it looks like I'm going to have to read the sequel.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Hate crime, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

bellathebookworm's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Murder

Moderate: Self harm

librosdeunamestiza's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Self harm, Sexism, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Religious bigotry, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual assault, Torture, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Vomit

saskiahill's review against another edition

medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Blood

Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Death, Self harm, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Pregnancy

corabookworm's review against another edition

adventurous tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.5

Fun YA fantasy, bit of a classic romance with *alllll* the tropes but I enjoyed rereading it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Death, Self harm, Sexual content, Violence, Murder, and War

Minor: Confinement, Cursing, Misogyny, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

infjkiki's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Self harm, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Sexual content, Torture, Vomit, and Death of parent

Minor: Cannibalism

blewballoon's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Shout out to my friend Katelyn for recommending this, she was so right. What a fun ride! This is such a good example of YA Fantasy Romance tropes, edgy imagery, and angst done well. Is this high-brow literature? No. Are some elements ridiculous? Yes. This is a book best enjoyed if you can channel your teenage rebel brain and not take it too seriously. The book doesn't seem to take itself that seriously, either. It feels like if the author had to make a decision, they choose based on what seemed the most entertaining, and for my reading experience that was not a bad thing. The romantic leads were nicely matched with each other, clearly they both needed to grow, and their complimentary strengths and weaknesses would push each other to grow in the best directions. I thought the supporting characters were compelling as well. I had a blast listening to this audiobook. I rarely want to jump into a sequel when I finish the first book of a series, even if I liked it, but I actually do want to just keep reading this story. (TBD if I actually will though 😛)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Murder

Moderate: Cursing, Sexual content, and Abandonment

Minor: Child abuse, Child death, Self harm, Vomit, and Alcohol

larika's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

It was a good time 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Self harm and Blood

Light cutting and blood. It didn't trigger me but it might someone else.

paili's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Murder

zzaranazz's review against another edition

adventurous lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

was this groundbreaking in any catagory? no not at all. the smut sucked too, but damn was i rooting for that smut to happen. though the characters are def not the best written, they’re loveable and interesting anyways. there’s something about this book that got me finishing it in less than a week and that’s hard for me as i haven’t read a book over 300 pages in multiple years. even with a high page count i wish it was better paced, the first act was much slower and manageable, but the second two were kinda just throwing shit at the wall and seeing what stuck? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm and Religious bigotry

Minor: Body horror